Lester ELLIS

Ive been following boxing for nearly 40 years and have never heard of Lester Ellis. So my guess is he wasn't as good as "advertised" and I would have to question who was doing the advertising. I had to look him up and he fought nobody and his title was the IBF title when it was basically the same as the WBO title in the early 90s.

 

Not familiar with him.

 

I recall Ellis and Barry Michael well. As a matter of fact I was there in Dallas Brooks Hall the night Michael retained his Commonwealth title against Dave McCabe (had a great conversation that night with Ray Mitchell as well). But to tell you the truth, they both benefitted by the inception of the IBF at that time. I really liked Ellis' win over John Sichula at the time, but in an era where there would have been one champ in each division, I think they both would have been lucky to crack the top ten.

 

I think that this is fair.

The IBF wasnt anywhere near as bad as the WBO was title was from the 90s (as was suggested) but it was definitely considered to be below the other 2. (in aussie boxing terms, Lester Ellis' world title was a hell of a lot better than Jeff Malcolm's!)

To be fair, Lester Ellis was never "advertised' as a great anywhere i remember and was never considered the best fighter in the world. His title winning effort (from memory) happened the same night that Jeff Fenech won his first world title. It was a low key affair completely overshadowed by Fenech's win, and was an upset that really came out of nowhere.

The Ellis Michael fight where ellis lost was a great fight (the sort of fight which really makes boxing). But was really more a local level or commonwealth level fight than a world title fight. it really is a sad indictment on boxing that such a fight is billed as a world title fight. They were not the 2 best fighters in the world, even though both were a credit to the sport and maybe even deserved a chance at proving they were the two best fighters in the world. Ellis Michael was exactly what this sport should be (just a shame lesters title wasnt a championship instead of a title). The best young talent in Australia vs the best fighter (at the time and weight) in Australia. It is sad that we dont see more of this kind of thing. No sitting on titles or protecting of rankings. Just two guys fighting the best challengers at their level.

Lester who was a lot bigge than Fenech chased a Fenech quite reasonably hard. Though it never really had huge public support.

When Jeff Fenech's conqueror Calvin Grove fought Lester Ellis and lester took him the distance in a competitive but losing fight. Lester felt vindicated and said something like 'This proves i can actually fight even though i know i lost the fight' . i think that this sums it up well. He was a great warrior but not as good as the best fighters in the world and certainly not the all time greats. The Grove loss was probably his best result, althoughhe was well past his best by this time.

Rather than being not as good as advertised (as Klompton suggests) i think the opposite is probably true. A lot better than what he actually proved he could do or who he fought. Capable of winning a (real) world title at his best on his day but probably not really likely to.

Hope boxrec doesnt prove me wrong on that post, but i think it sums lester ellis up pretty well.

 

It's funny someone mentions Michael-Ellis. There was a post just above that talked about Marciano-Savold and how there has never been a pressue fighter like Marciano.

Rocky Lockeridge took Michael out almost EXACTLY the same way Marciano took Savold out.

so no, Ellis wasn't that good.

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Great post. Ellis was a top fighter by our local standards but not so much on the world scene. He had huge heart and was good offensively. He was an extremely exciting fighter and always gave the crowd their moneys worth and more.

I'd forgotten how rough and tumble his fights used to get, he was real balls to the wall and was often in drag them out knock them down and keep hitting affairs.

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He was for sure, a real goer.

 

Nice footage!! Thanks for posting it.. First time seeing him for me.. Looks like a banger with nice body work .. He is definitely there to fight, give one take one type of boxer .. Boxing does need more of this excitement!!

 

He could hit for sure. It's a shame he didn't make the next step up, he was great to watch.

 

I believe he did a lot of work with troubled youths too.

 

Have a look at 17.08 for a good chuckle LOLOLOL!!! Groves trainer would have to be some sort of pro or ex pro heavyweight surely. He lookis pretty dangerous lmao

 

JT !! This is Hilarious! You got to love the the all white sweat out fit with the matching head band holding down his slicked back hair ... He was fired up and ready to bang!!